San Diego Boca FC Partners With GetGear.org on Soccer Gear Drive

Helping Level the Global Playing Field by Supporting Kids in Need through Soccer

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Mar 25, 2010, 01:53 ET

SAN DIEGO, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- US Soccer Corporation dba San Diego Boca FC announced today that the club has entered into a partnership with GetGear.org to collect new and used sports gear for soccer programs serving children in need at home and abroad.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100325/LA76882LOGO)

San Diego Boca FC NPSL season begins on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at 7pm against Real San Jose (NPSL) and an exhibition match this coming Sunday, March 28th against the Mexican All-Stars at the Helix High Soccer Stadium with a 3:45pm kickoff (www.sdboca.com). Dozens of vendors will be participating, offering the latest in soccer apparel, equipment, and concessions. GetGear.org will be collecting soccer gear donations at the entrance and inside the Stadium from 2pm to 4pm.

Souheil Jawad, San Diego Boca FC COO stated, "We are very excited to be partnering and working with GetGear.org by providing sporting goods and soccer gear to children in need. We hope every Boca fan will drop off some soccer gear at this Sunday's Exhibition match to help children in need."

For years, when Jacob and Amaya Dennis, now 12 and 10 years old, traveled to exotic destinations with their parents, they connected with the local kids by playing the most popular sport in the world – soccer. So, although they didn't speak the local languages, they were able to make friends with children in Madagascar, Tanzania, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Turkey, Egypt and a host of other countries.

It was the children who first noted to their parents, David and Linda, that their new friends rarely had 'real' sporting equipment. They often played in bare feet and sometimes had to make do with balls crafted out of plastic bags and tape. So, after giving local children their own balls before heading home from vacation, they decided there must be something more they could do. So was born GetGear.org, a non-profit organization founded by the Dennis family in Santa Cruz, California to help level the global playing field.

To date the organization has collected and delivered used gear to children in Guatemala, California, Kenya and Mexico. Recently, a number of important programs in South Africa have requested gear in advance of the 2010 World Cup being held there. Many of the children playing soccer in these organizations have lost parents to AIDS and soccer is helping to keep them off the streets.

GetGear.org President and Co-Founder David Dennis said, "Every program with which we work has a special story and now working with San Diego Boca FC the mission continues. One program in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, http://www.mysakenya.org, serves 18,000 kids, but every eight teams shares only one set of uniforms. The players in the league have to perform community service in order to earn additional points in their league standings, so the whole community benefits not just the players. We're not only helping overseas, though. We've recently outfitted a Middle School in Oakland, California and have a delivery on the way to a school in San Diego. No matter the program, the players learn teamwork, communication, perseverance and how to deal with failure. Something as simple as a soccer team with proper gear can make a huge difference in a child's life."

About GetGear.org

GetGear.org is a non-profit corporation founded by children to level the global playing field by providing sporting goods to children in need.

About San Diego Boca FC

San Diego Boca FC was founded in 2009 to promote and develop professional and youth soccer in the San Diego Community and across the United States. The team was named after the storied soccer club Boca Jrs. out of Argentina founded in 1905, where Diego Maradona played during the beginning of his amazing soccer career. San Diego Boca FC will carry the tradition that Boca Jrs. established by promoting and building its club from a grass roots level, developing the young stars of tomorrow.

San Diego Boca FC is a member of the 34-team National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). For more league information please visit www.npsl.info

For additional San Diego Boca FC team information, contact San Diego Boca FC and visit www.SDBoca.com or email [email protected]

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SOURCE US Soccer Corp / San Diego Boca FC